Lights of different colors flashed, stayed stable for a short period, then pulsated, and then flashed again; all the while, the pieces of memory of different parts of Emilia Corin’s life replayed around her - the time she stormed into the mansion of one of the higher ups of her family with a team of borrowed fighters behind, who was technically one of her uncles; the time she time she led a small team of her own, with some borrowed forces from Carol Summers and burst into the “Sacred Hall” of the Corin family, carrying the head of one of the elders of the family with her; the time she found she was betrayed by some of her most trusted friends and - others, and she had to escape from her usual hiding place, activated a diversion plan of hers originally prepared for a tactical strike just to redirect those that would have followed her and hunted her down; and finally, the blurry but familiar image of the face of a short haired girl, whose name she could not recall even though she tried, flashed before her eyes, and from a jolt of pain radiating from the back of her head, Emilia Corin woke up.

The room she was in was very dim, with candles of different colors burning around her and the scent of mild incense filled the entire room. She was in loose pajama-like clothes made of soft cotton, and as far as she could tell, they were not enchanted. When she tried to move her head to look around, she found that she was tied to a giant round bed, lying on a duvet with the patterns of an array painted on it. There were two IV drips attached to her arms, in which she could see some light greenish blue liquid. And facing the foot of the bed was a table, on which a bronze colored metal bowl was placed. She could not see what the bowl contained, but as she looked around, she felt it more and more that she was in a somewhat hostile environment, and whoever tied her to this bed did not mean her any goodwill.

Emilia Corin grabbed onto the cloth bindings that were tied around her wrists to the bedposts, then she tried her best to concentrate her power on her fingernails to cut through the cloth. Luckily, though the cloth bindings were sturdy, they did not seem to be fully enchanted to withstand the kind of cutting energy she was using.

After around five minutes, she finally cut through the bindings and freed her arms. She immediately sat up, removed the needles in her arm and tore up the bindings on her legs. Just this moment, the door to the room opened and a healer in a white coat holding a bottle of medicine entered the room. Emilia Corin immediately jumped to the side and grabbed a candle holder still with the candle on in her hand.

“You’re awake.” The healer sighed and nodded at Emilia Corin: “A bit earlier than I planned, but… good.”

“What happened?” Emilia Corin asked, still holding the candle holder while rubbing her temples with the other hand trying to deal with her throbbing migraine: “What did you do to me?”

“You were injured in the fight, and you drained yourself by overusing your gift.” The healer sat down on the bed and said: “Ms. Summers ordered me to heal you, and bring back your powers as much as possible. It seems to me, that you are recovering quite well.”

“What’s in that IV drip? ” Emilia Corin coughed and looked over to the metal bowl, all she saw was some kind of blood red thick liquid: “What’s this?”

“It’s a healing and soothing solution, it can help you recover your power and gift, it also helps to numb the pain.” The healer put the bottle of liquid on the bedside table and raised her arms: “And the thing in the bowl will be used to hollow you out.”

“Hollow me out? What do you mean?”

“A recipe stolen from Lucias Vyn’s syndicate and perfected by Ms. Summers herself, it will remove your consciousness and the core of your soul, while leaving small traces of energy in your body to prevent your body from deteriorating without it.” The healer let out a long sigh and answered.

Emilia Corin moved over to the side of the bed and pulled the IV bag to her and started sucking on the IV fluid as she felt the pain in her body growing, she had a question in mind but she was not able to ask.

“I decided to tell you this, because - I cannot.” The healer wiped the corners of her eyes with her fingers, but then she just started sobbing: “I cannot do it anymore - ”

“Do you know where the portal scrolls are?” Drinking the fluid did not appear to be as effective as taking it in through the veins, Emilia Corin had to drink up the rest of the bag just to be able to talk.

“Her - here.” The healer reached into her pouch and took out a small piece of folded up, rugged looking parchment: “It’s not untraceable, but it will get you out of here.”

“Medicines?” Emilia Corin took another unopened IV bag on the shelf beside the bed and asked, clenching her teeth.

“This’ll be it.” The healer pointed at the bottle she brought in with her: “It’s the healing solution only, the numbing agent is there on the shelf, tiny blue bottles. But - you have to watch the dosage - ”

With time being the highest priority, Emilia Corin took as much as she could, including a small pair of scissors  and was ready to leave the room.

“Are you just gonna stay here?” When she was at the door, Emilia Corin looked back at the sobbing healer and asked.

“I - I can’t leave, my family - ”

“I understand - ” Emilia Corin thought for a while, then walked to the healer’s side: “And I’m sorry.”

Before the healer could say anything, she felt a sharp cold object pierced through her left chest, went between her ribs and punctured her heart. Tears poured down her face, as the blood started to gush out of her wound and painted her coat red.

“Thank you.”